Bernie The Wise Rambling On

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Quick FYIMy raise finally went through today. And I'm now officially a Research Analyst for the Nielsen Company. (Basically the exact same job, just fancier title.) More details will be giving on request. I'm going back to my happy dance now.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Ok, so that's probably one of the cheesiest titles that I've ever come up with, but it's definitely the truth.

Yesterday (June 27), I had the great pleasure of seeing my favorite band EVER, No Doubt, live in concert at the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach, out on Long Island. I've been wanting to see No Doubt for years now, but it seems every time I've tried to go in the past I'm either in the wrong city at the wrong time, or it's during the break period when Gwen was doing her solo gig. So simply put, when Kim and I realized back in March that the band was coming to New York, it probably took usall of a half a second to decide that we wanted to go.For the last several weeks it has been raining pretty much non stop in the City, and all week there was talk about rain on Saturday. I knew that Nikon Theater was an outdoor amphitheater so I was checking weather.com constantly to see what the latest news was for the weather. I was doing it so much that I somehow even go my friend from work Annalisa checking on it as well. But as it turns out, the rain decided to take a break yesterday and we had a day with high 70s, partly cloudy, and no too bad humidity. Add in the fact that Jones beach is an alcohol free state park and it made everything perfect. So around 5pm, Kim and I hoped on the Long Island Railroad and headed to the concert venue.

(As a side, on the Nikon theater website it stated that no cameras were allowed, which turned out to be false. But because of this, all of the pictures below are taken by my camera phone. Not to bad if I do say so my self.)

Heading to the concert on the LIRR

Kim - deep in thought... or just bored.

We ended up getting there right when the gates were about to open at 6:30. It would be about a hour before the first opening act would come on so we head to the merchandise area to pick out concert T-shirts. We both ended up getting shirts that had all the tour locations on the back. My shirt (see below) has a blacked out picture of the band from their promotions for their song "Stand and Deliver". It's pretty simple but I love it. Kim went for a crazier style with a faux tux shirt, jacket, and tie with No Doubt buttons and patches printed on it.

After spending some cash, we headed to our seats to wait for the fun to begin. Of course this lead to us starting to goof off a bit.

Kim showing off our tickets. We were dead center about half way back. I would have loved to be closer, but this was the best we could get.

The view from my set before it filled up.

So the Nikon is right on the water. Check out this view!

I got playing with the different camera features on my phone. Doesn't Kim look so excited!

The first opening act was some chick named Janelle Monae. We didn't really like her that much. She started out ok, but the more she sang, the less we could handle her. I'll just skip over her. I doubt she'll end up getting big anyway. Moving on.

Paramore was the real opening act for the concert. They were even labeled as "with Very Special Guest" on the tickets. They actually were really good. I'd have to say they were the best opening act I've heard so far. It probably helped that I know their music pretty well and enjoy their sound. They played their singles from their first album Riot including "Decode" that is featured on the Twilight soundtrack. They also played a few songs from their new album that's scheduled to be released in September.

Paramore's stage set up.

By the time No Doubt come on, it was too dark and too far away from my camera phone to get any good pictures. However, I was able to get one decent picture from their intro where they had a large canvas if front of the stage with lights shinning behind it creating silhouettes of the band as they came on stage. It was a great.

The first sighting of No Doubt. L-R Tom, Gwen, Tony, and Adrian.

Let's just say I was a bit giddy at this point. Kim laughed at me several times. No Doubt's theme was all about white and black. Very streamline and simple. They are all about getting back to the basics for their fans, so they didn't go over the top with fancy flashy costumes or sets. They just wanted to play the music that we love. The concert was great. No Doubt was on stage for over a hour and a half. They didn't stop for an intermission ever for costume changes. The one time Gwen went off stage to change, the boys did a fun Jamaican-y number to keep everyone engaged. They played all of their singles, opening with "Spiderwebs", several lesser known songs from the Tragic Kingdom album for us hard core fans, and eventually ended the night on one of my favorites "Sunday Morning". I was singing along the whole time. The complete set list is listed below. Gwen was really good at keeping the crowd involved. She even got us to break up between guys and girls to sing different parts of "Just A Girl". There was never a dull moment in the whole show. No Doubt are just really well rounded performers. Paramore and Jonelle Monoe come out during the Encore and sang along with "Stand and Deliver" in No Doubt's tradition of singing a song with their opening act.

Out side the Nikon Theater.

This was definitely one the greatest things I've done. I wish I could repeat the day just to hear them play again. You can bet that when No Doubt release their new album here in the next year that I'll be buying tickets to their next tour. I'm still reeling in my happiness. I think I'll be listening to my No Doubt albums nonstop for the next week at least.

Now just because I couldn't get any pictures myself from the actual performance doesn't mean I'm going to leave you hanging. Here are some pictures I pulled off line from the concert. (Yay Flickr and Guisi GurL where I grabbed these shots!) Also, all of the songs can be found on Youtube by searching "No Doubt Jones Beach". Let's just say I'll be doing that a lot this week. :)

Janelle Monae:

Paramore:

NO DOUBT

And, for your viewing pleasure (before it gets pulled off line that is) is No Doubt playing "Just a Girl" from their Jones Beach concert!!!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Well, if you've been looking at the Barrington siblings' blogs, you'll have noticed that it's kinda already been covered. At least from the individual families' sides of things. So I'm going to take a moment and share the single sibling perspective, aka the awkward and funny pictures from the happy occasion.

Starting things off, the Wedding Prep:

Wasn't that frog-eyed salad yummy? Mom sure thought so!

At the Rehearsal Dinner:

Don't I look so cute?

Careful there Caroline, you better watch yourself.

Kim's gettin' down with her funky- chicken self.

The Actual Wedding:(warning, excessive cuteness ahead)

Awww, Dad's showing Jonah how it's done.

Spin spin spin

Did I ever mention that May in Kentucky is a bit humid and rainy?

Jeff at his finest...

Ok, this one's just cool, I got Andrew in midair!

I think Mom was seen scampering off like this at every Barrington Wedding I've attended.

Michael, you're supposed to be smiling. Remember you wanted this.

No wonder Caroline fits in this family so well..

Sister Phenix, secret Agent

The only time I got Andrew looking at the camera without making a silly face and he wasn't even supposed to be there.

I think the mothers were a bit tired by this point.

Again, humidity isn't always our friend

Poor Lincoln, he was so tired, but he was a great little trooper.

At the Reception:

And we all wonder where Andrew learned the tongue thing...(that's count number 2 for Jeffie)